Never Gone
by wondering and lost
Summary: A one-shot Bones/Booth story set after 'Wanna Be in the Weeds' but before 'Pain in the Heart'. Has minor spoilers.


*Disclaimer: I do not Bones, just this idea.

A hand on her back, a lingering glance. Late night dinners, rescuing her from danger. A toy pig and Brainy Smurf on a shelf in her office. He stole evidence from a crime scene yet condemned her in the eyes of a courtroom in order to save her father. He was always there to comfort her and to make her laugh. These were just a few things that made up their relationship. Sad blue eyes stared at the smurf now on her office coffee table while she held the toy pig to her chest. Everyone thought she could compartmentalize no matter what, but how did they expect her to compartmentalize this? Her partner, her friend, the one who'd rescued her in more ways then one, was no more. And all because of an obsessive freak. She sniffled slightly, finding some comfort in the fact that the crazy lady was now dead, but with that thought came a fresh wave of tears.

After blowing her nose, she dropped the soiled tissue onto the ever growing pile on the floor. She'd clean up before the next day, when she'd have to school her features into the "nothing effects me" façade that everyone was used to. She'd have to face all of the pitying looks, and she was sure Angela would try to console her, though she wasn't sure she'd be able to keep up her façade when faced with her friends tears.

A beeping told her it was nine at night, way past the time she usually went home, when he was here to make her leave. She knew she had to leave and attempt to sleep so that she'd be somewhat presentable the next day, but she was unwilling to leave her office, to step out into a world he was no longer a part of. She curled up on her couch, the toy pig he'd given her in one hand while Brainy Smurf sat on her coffee table, staring at her.

"Dear Lord, please, please, return him to us." The rational part of her said that it was scientifically impossible to bring someone back from the dead, or to talk to someone that can not be proven to exist. She shoved that part to the back of her mind and, for once, let her heart have complete control.

"Please Lord, he's a good man, a great partner, a wonderful father, a caring man. We need him here with us, _I_ need him." Breaking off as sobs racked her body, she missed the sound of her door opening. Not realizing someone was there, she kept talking to the one he believed in more than anything else. She kept going until she fell into a light sleep, stirring slightly as a weight settled over her.

"Booth," she whined, stopping the figure where it stood. She let out a sob as she saw him taking the bullet for her, his blood seeping through her fingers as she tried to stop it's flow. "Don't go Booth, don't go!"

The fingers that ran through her hair calmed her slightly and she relaxed as she heard, "It's ok Bones, I'm right here. I'm never going to leave you." Her dream showed a healthy Booth, sitting on her couch, grinning at the new TV she'd bought just so he'd stop complaining about her not getting his pop culture references. "Don't worry Bones," he said, turning and giving her the look and smile he always gave her when she sweated over the little things. "You won't be able to get rid of me that easily. I'll be here until you don't want me around any more."

Comforted by his words, she relaxed completely into her couch. "I'll always want you Booth," she mumbled, smiling slightly at his reply.

"Then you'll always have me." She was barely aware of the lips that pressed themselves to her forehead as she slipped fully into her dreams.

She woke up early the next morning, feeling refreshed, though the feeling didn't last long once her gaze landed on the Smurf sitting innocently on her table. But the thought of Booth dead didn't hurt as much as the night before. Confused, she thought about it as she straightened her office, her lips twitching as she remembered her dream. As she picked up the plastic pig and Smurf and replaced them in their rightful places on her self she said, "Forever and always Booth," before leaving and going to her house so she could get ready for work. She didn't care about the looks people would give her and she as certain she'd be able to hold her own against Angela's tears because she knew, however irrational that it was, that Booth would always be with her, in her heart.

Of course, when she found out that he was really alive, she felt otherwise, though her heart seemed lighter at the sight of her partner, alive, and pouting after she'd punched him at his 'funeral'.


End file.
